Finding a 2nd chance

Brittany Wagner moved to her new home near the Inverness and Oak Mountain area late this summer to pursue a new chapter in her and her daughter’s lives.

And finally, she’s getting used to the U.S. 280 traffic.

Wagner joked that, having spent most of her life in small towns in Mississippi, Birmingham was a big adjustment with its thousands of restaurants and endless things to do.

For those familiar with the hit Netflix series “Last Chance U,” Wagner is a familiar face and name, having drawn national attention to her work with athletes at East Mississippi Community College.

And while EMCC was a place she made big things happen, she said, after the second season of “Last Chance U” wrapped, she said she felt that it was time to move in a different direction with her life.

“This show was giving me this platform that most people spend their whole life trying to get,” she said, describing how the docuseries had provided her with exposure to people around the country and globe. 

Each day, she said, she would receive hundreds of emails from coaches and parents asking for her advice or for her help with their team or athlete.

“I just started thinking: ‘Why can’t I do this without being affiliated with a school?’”

So, she said, she decided to launch a consulting company, 10KP or “10,000 Pencils,” aimed at providing everything from one-on-one coaching for athletes to helping a school or organization create an athletic counseling program.

“Basically anyone, anywhere can hire me to do the same thing that I was doing [at EMCC],” she said.

While a lot of student-athletes are fully served by their school’s academic and counseling support, Wagner said, many need additional help.

“That’s kind of my role, with these kids, is meeting them where they’re at,” she said, describing how she works with athletes to make sure they are being reached socially and emotionally, as well as academically and physically.

“Loving them, really,” she said.

With 10KP came the launch of a host of speaking engagements, Wagner said, with at least one a week through Christmas.

And it’s speaking to groups that she said is her favorite part of her new career.

“You get to meet people that you’ve inspired, and that in turn inspires me to work that much harder,” she said.

Many times when she speaks, she said she will have a line of people looking to meet her afterward, which she said drives her to keep going, even when things are tough — and the traffic on 280 is frustrating.

“It makes you realize that what you’re doing is important, and people are watching or listening,” she said.

And while she is working around the country these days, Wagner said she hopes to add several Birmingham-area schools to her list, as she can meet with them face-to-face on a regular basis. That’s because, she said, though the Birmingham-metro area has many high-level public school systems and athletics departments, “there [are] some athletes and some students and some schools that are being left behind.”

Overall, Wagner said she and her daughter, Kennedy, are adjusting well to living in Birmingham, and look forward to making alife here.

For more information about Wagner or 10KP, visit brittanywagner.com.